Terrible Crash Takes Lives of Cal Baptist Students/Coach

I have a number of friends whose kids have gone to California Baptist University in Riverside, CA, including one whose daughter will start there in a couple of weeks.  Today the campus is in mourning after a terrible accident:

At least three and possibly as many as six people were reported killed and 12 were injured in a multi-vehicle collision involving athletes and coaches from California Baptist University of Riverside.

The accident happened south of Bishop on the east side of the Sierra Nevada range, officials said today.

Wendy Rice, a Cal Baptist cheerleading coach, was identified as one of those killed by Mark Wyatt, Cal Baptist's vice president for marketing and communication.

Rice, a mother of two children, and husband Jason were residents of Corona, according to a bio page on Cal Baptist's website.

According to televised reports this morning four students are still critical. A terrible tragedy. As the father of two college kids myself the horror for those parents and family members just has to be awful.

UPDATE:  The LA Times adds more details:

The van was one of three university vehicles heading northbound on U.S. Highway 395 about five miles south of Bishop when a Ford SUV traveling in the opposite direction lost control shortly after 8 p.m. The SUV smashed into one of the vans and burst into flames, said Officer Dennis Cleland of the California Highway Patrol.

A second van traveling behind avoided the collision, but a vehicle behind it struck the burning SUV, Cleland said. Five of the fatalities were inside the SUV, and one was inside the van.

"There could be more fatalities, but we're trying to sort that out," Cleland said.

More info:

Police on Tuesday identified 15 young people wounded in a fiery collision outside Bishop that left three dead, including the cheerleading coach from California Baptist University in Riverside.

Monday evening's accident appears to have involved two cross-country teams traveling in opposite directions on Highway 395 five miles south of Bishop. The crash killed 35-year-old Wendy Rice, of Corona, who was driving a van that was carrying cross-country team members from the university to a high-altitude training camp in Mammoth.

Two college-age women, who were in the SUV going south when it rolled through the center divider and into oncoming traffic also died, but their names have not been released. Three others in that vehicle suffered third-degree burns.

Drew Constantine Delis, 22, of Encinitas, was taken to San Joaquin Community Hospital in Bakersfield with major injuries. Derek Randal Thomas, 19, of Encinitas, was flown to West Hills Hospital with major injuries.

A 19-year-old woman from Ashland, Ore., who was driving a 2000 Subaru Legacy also struck the van after the first collision and was hospitalized with third-degree burns and multiple injuries.

Cal Baptist's 2009 Ford Econoline van was carrying 13 people, including Rice, who was declared dead at the scene, and Rebecca Trupp, 20, of Riverside, who suffered severe head trauma and was airlifted to a hospital in Reno, Nev.

Authorities believe the SUV was carrying student athletes from a San Diego-area cross-country team because they found running gear in the wreckage.

Eleven student athletes from Cal Baptist were taken to area hospitals with minor to serious injuries: Alyssa Neimeyer, 19, of Temecula; David Solis, 19, of Corona; Brenda Perez, 20, of Riverside; Alicia Catanese, 21, of Corona; Jennifer McGuire, 17, of Stevenson Ranch; Kayla M. Beaudoin, 19, of Corona; Miguel Angel Gonzalez, 18, of Hacienda Heights; Marissa Benson, 18, of Gresham, Ore.; Jonathan Monteon, 18, of Chino; Jonathan Hernandez, 18, of Moreno Valley; and Hanna Ingulsrud, 19, of Ontario.